Vanessa Romo

In a new bid to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, two Native American communities are suing the Trump administration, saying it failed to adhere to historical treaty boundaries and circumvented environmental impact analysis. As a result, they are asking a federal judge in Montana to rescind the 2017 permit and block any further construction or use of the controversial pipeline.

A federal judge in Florida has ordered Secretary of State Kenneth Detzner to mandate that local election officials comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by providing sample ballots in Spanish. Plaintiffs asked for the materials because many people moved from Puerto Rico to Florida after Hurricane Maria and hope to cast ballots in the November general elections.

Think of it as the first act of a movie in which the lead — an incredibly attractive, symmetrically faced character — is up against seemingly insurmountable odds. Except in this version, that handsome-yet-relatable hero is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The challenge it faces is trying to make the sluggish annual Oscar ceremony a bit more lively. Only, it's meeting a lot of resistance.